Starting Over

I ended up being sick for about 10 days.  I missed work, spent an awful lot of time on the couch, and tried to eat as much as I could while still following the Clean elimination diet and just overall feeling awful.  I blew my nose 500 times a day and barely slept most nights.  I finally started feeling better last Saturday and started back on the cleanse.  Again, it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be.  I got up, had a probiotic pill and a shake around 7:00, a snack around 10:00, healthy lunch around 1:00, snack around 4:00, shake around 7:00, and tons of water and several supplements throughout the day.  The book suggests not snacking at all, but it's so hard, and all of my snacks were healthy.  I didn't do much in the way of exercise because I was worried that I would pass out since I wasn't eating much, but I did join a recreational soccer team, so there's that! 

It's just once a week on Saturdays.  A friend of mine had been asking me to join for years, and I finally said yes a few weeks ago.  The game last week ended up being cancelled because of the rain, so my first game should be this Saturday.  I am both excited and terrified.  Even though I played in high school and college, I haven't played in over 10 years.  I went to see my doctor to make sure I had her "ok" to play, and she recommended an inhaler because of my asthma and allergies.  I mentioned that I was still pretty tired most days, even in the days leading up to the cleanse, and that I had been experiencing some mental fatigue as well.  It might seem like nothing, but I try to be honest with my doctors even at the risk of being a hypochondriac.  Once you are diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease, you learn to be totally honest with your doctors.  If I hadn't been completely open with my doctor when I was in my 20s, who knows how long I would have gone being misdiagnosed. 

So anyway, I told her about the ongoing fatigue, and she referred me to a neurologist.  And...yeah.  Not what I was expected, but okay.  I went on Tuesday.  He reviewed my symptoms and medical history and ordered an MRI, EEG, and sleep study.  Pretty standard so there's not reason to be concerned yet.  I go for the EEG on Friday, MRI next Tuesday, and I have to call and schedule the sleep study.  While I have a feeling they won't find anything, at least I will have a few things to cross of the list of potential reasons I feel like crap all the time.  I was really hoping it was just a gluten/dairy/casein/something intolerance, but it doesn't look like that is the case.